Yemen: UN for credible probe into air strike

The UN Security Council is calling for “a credible and transparent investigation” into an attack in northern Yemen that killed a large number of civilians, including children.

A statement from the UN’s most powerful body was issued after a closed briefing yesterday by a senior UN official and expressed “grave concern” at the latest attacks in Saada province “and all other recent attacks”.

The council did not say who was responsible, but the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it’s investigating.

Britain’s UN Ambassador Karen Pierce, the current council president, told reporters “if there’s an acceptable, credible investigation then the council will want to consider next steps in the light of that”.

“If any investigation that is held is not credible, the council will obviously want to review that,” she said.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Al Houthi militants earlier announced a probe into the air strike that allegedly killed at least 29 children on Thursday. “The leadership of the coalition has ordered the immediate opening of an investigation to assess the events, clarify their circumstances and announce the results as soon as possible,” a senior official said.

The coalition on Thursday carried out an air strike in the northern Yemen province of Sa’ada that targeted Al Houthi militants responsible for launching missile attack on a Saudi town a day earlier.

Fragments from the missile killed one civilian and wounded 11 in the southern Saudi province of Jizan, Saudi state media confirmed on Thursday. The kingdom’s air defence forces had intercepted the missile, Saudi state news channel Al Ekhbariya reported.

The coalition spokesman, Colonel Turki Al Maliki, said that the coalition strike was a “legitimate military action to target elements that planned and carried out the targeting of civilians”.